A Safe Enough Space

Wow, today was special.
It’s was absolutely incredible to be in the room today. Coming off of the weekend, finding out that I’m a BFA candidate for when I get back from my mission, getting all of my assignments turned in, and experimenting with my Poe piece in class, I went into today feeling crazy good. And oh my gosh did it get so much better.
At the beginning of the year we talked about creating a “safe enough space”. I’ll be honest, I’m the type of guy who really is turned off by the idea of the whole safe space trend. Especially in the theatre world, I think it is crucial that words and taking offense don’t control our discourse and interactions with each other, and I feel that this idea very often slips into excess and limiting words based on the slight possibility of causing offence. Because of this, I was initially very hesitant when we started to discuss this idea in class. But I think I realized what the idea of a “safe enough space” means today, and I think it’s a pretty good plan. I felt very comfortable exploring the text and making mistakes in front of everyone, and I think that’s exactly what it’s about.

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the importance of community and acceptance, both in the environment I grew up in and the theatre world. In Utah, and specifically in Northern Utah County where I’m from, there is great potential for both amazingly accepting people and incredibly unaccepting people. People are inherently distrustful of things that are different or that they don’t understand, and as such I’ve had some interesting encounters with all sorts of folks, and have had to change some of my views and opinions because of them. For instance, when I go back home there is often some sort of negative reaction, whether subtle or overt, when I discuss acting as my preferred profession. There is certainly a stereotype of actors and their potential for financial success, and whether it is deserved or not, I have to put up with it. When I started to compare that very small prejudice that I experience with the substantially more impactful and destructive prejudices that some of my classmates and friends face, whether that’s for addiction, sexual preference, or gender identity, and the negative effects those encounters must have on them, I became much more conscious of how I was treating those around me and what kind of person I was being. I think the theater program and voice and diction have helped me greatly with understanding that and learning to be a much more inclusive, kind, and accepting individual, and creating a “safe enough space” seems to me to be the perfect way to turn that mentality out into the world.

You never know what another person is going through, and so I’m committing to be the kindest person I can be wherever I am, and voice and diction is as good a place to start as any.

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